Excellent read, and having done both ASIC mining and PIVX staking, I much prefer staking. Miners make great space heaters, but too many things need to line up for them to break even, let alone be profitable (cheap electricity or at least offsetting electric heat, realistic mining difficulty, and a bull run). Staking is the way to go 2019-onwards.

If you have a computer that runs 24/7 anyway and an un-metered internet connection, staking PIVX is practically free. The core wallet is easy on the processor (though a bit of a memory hog), so it hardly affects the power consumption of an otherwise idle machine. Even if you don't run a computer 24/7, I stake on a laptop that only pulls about 15 watts - less than $2/month in electricity.